Van Dyck Law, LLC is a full service Estate Planning & Elder Law practice. They write about comprehensive planning in the areas of wills, trusts, powers of attorney, medical directives, Elder Law and probate & estate administration.

Ethical Will

11/06/2018

“Without these important documents, your heirs could overlook financial accounts or miss out on life insurance benefits.”

Who likes to think about death and end-of-life arrangements? Not too many of us, to be sure. However, being prepared for the inevitable is a wise thing to do, and it's a kind thing to do for your family.

US News & World Report’s recent article, “12 Documents to Prepare Now for Your Heirs,” says that when people don't have their paperwork ready, it can be a huge headache for the family. A family can be left with all kinds of paperwork to sort out, while dealing with grief. Even worse, heirs may forfeit life insurance proceeds and tax deductions or overlook accounts they don't know exist. That's why it's critical to have important documents ready for loved ones. Here are the documents you should start preparing right away:

A will. This is a legal document in which you name an executor to carry out your wishes, heirs to receive your assets and a guardian if you have minor children.

A letter of explanation. Your will stipulates how assets are to be divided. However, a letter of explanation can provide the reasons for these decisions. This can be helpful, if the estate is to be divided unevenly between children.

List of financial accounts and beneficiaries. Keep a list of all your finances, such as bank and retirement accounts and brokerage funds. Each may have a designated beneficiary or transfer on death provision, known as a TOD. A person who’s named as a beneficiary or TOD designee automatically will receive ownership of the asset after you die. Make sure you keep these beneficiary designations up-to-date.

Personal inventory. Most wills distribute personal property in vague terms, like designating jewelry to one person and household goods to another. To be certain that nothing significant is overlooked, create an inventory of personal items. This inventory can also list items that may be stored in another location, unbeknownst to your family.

Power of attorney. This form is an important document for your family, if you become incapacitated because of an illness or accident. A power of attorney allows a designated person to make decisions on your behalf. One form is for financial decisions, and another is for health care.

Life insurance policies. Your family can miss significant life insurance benefits, if they don't know you have a policy, or it’s been lost or misplaced. Keep records of your life insurance plans and place it with your financial records.

Real estate records. Add deeds, assessments, mortgage statements and property tax information to the documents you've prepared for your heirs. Collecting the records for them in advance will make their lives easier.

Tax returns. List the name of your CPA or tax preparer, if you have your taxes professionally done. He or she can help your family with filing final tax returns for your estate. If you file your own returns, print a copy for your files and record any login information for online tax preparation services.

Logins for accounts. Create a list of your usernames and passwords for financial accounts, email, and social media and keep it where heirs can access the information.

A digital estate plan. Some states recognize digital estate plans as legally binding. However, even if it isn’t, it can be a great resource for your family. A digital estate plan states what will happen to your digital assets, like your social media accounts, websites, digital photos, intellectual property and other files and documents. Within your plan, you can name a digital executor and list those you've named as legacy contacts on specific platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter.

An ethical will. This letter describes what you'd like remembered as your legacy, such as passing down values. An ethical will can be used to share memories or to impart wisdom.

Your final wishes. If you've made prearrangements for your funeral or cremation, place that information with your will and other end-of-life documents. Your final wishes should also include information about organ donation, pet care and who should be notified of your passing.

It’s a big job to nail down these 12 tasks but getting them completed will be a wonderful final parting gift for your family.

10/11/2018

“Of course, you know you should have a will. Then why do so many people procrastinate on getting a will?”

There’s news of a celebrity dying without a will nearly every month.

Merrill Lynch and the consulting firm Age Wave found from their recent survey that about 50% of study participants age 50 and older didn’t have a will.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune’s recent article, “How to get started on making a will,” reported that many people don’t care to talk with close family members about important financial topics, like their level of financial security, plans for living arrangements in retirement, inheritance or long-term care.

The Merrill Lynch/Age Wave report, “Family & Retirement: The Elephant in the Room,” explains that some of this is due to time constraints and that people say they’ll do it eventually.

However, it’s easy to get started. You can draft an ethical will, also known as a values statement or letter. Do this in the next few weeks or month. The thought is to capture for your immediate family, as well as your grandchildren and great grandchildren, what you want them to know about your values, what mattered to you in life, what traditions you hold dear and how you’d like the world to become a better place.

Creating an ethical will begins with a family conversation. Once you begin recording your values and discussing them with your family, it’s a short hop to discussions about your estate plan.

A great benefit of starting the dialog with an ethical will, is that there’s less pressure on the family and more time to become comfortable with the topic.

These discussions will lead you to finally meet with an estate planning lawyer to write your will.

In addition to creating your estate plan, you’ll want to arrange your finances, so you can age comfortably, draft a durable power of attorney, in case you become incapacitated and write an advanced health directive.

These details will come out of those initial discussions about values, and not the other way around.

08/01/2018

“Sometimes an inheritance is more about the legacy than the assets being passed down, and sometimes it's a little bit of both.”

An ethical will, also known as a "legacy letter" or "living legacy," is a document that is often given to family and loved ones, while the writer is still alive to go over matters not covered in the will.

Investment News’ recent article, “Advisers use ethical wills to look beyond client assets,” says that a legacy letter helps the writer explain to younger generations his or her reasons for setting up the will in a certain way and what they hope to accomplish through the estate plan. In writing the letter, the donor is also adding to the probability that his or her wishes will be followed.

Some don’t like the term ethical will, and prefer to call it a legacy letter. However, the purpose is the same. Regardless of what it's called, the ethical will is simply a letter.

It’s not a binding legal document. It is often written to accompany a formal will.

An ethical will can help uncover character assets and the values that a person holds dear. It can explain that what they have to pass on to loved ones can be much more valuable than finances.

These letters are designed to be unique and personal, even if they’re used to clarify how and why an estate is being allocated in a certain way.

The goal of an ethical will is to pass along, in a person’s own words, what they're hoping to accomplish with their estate.